Inauthentic Activity in the 2026 Retail Boycott Conversation
Cyabra's analysis of the boycott targeting five major U.S. retailers found inauthentic accounts padding volume and hopping between brands, without manufacturing the underlying anger.
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On May 24, 2022, 19 students and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary school. Immediately following, use of the hashtags #GunReformNow and #GunActionNow spiked on Twitter among Democrats. Republicans mostly refrained from commenting. Part of the online conversation included theories that the shooting was a false flag. Of the more than 540 inauthentic profiles that took part in this conversation, more than a third were created in May.
Cyabra's analysis of the boycott targeting five major U.S. retailers found inauthentic accounts padding volume and hopping between brands, without manufacturing the underlying anger.
Cyabra found that fake accounts driving stock market conversations grew 4 percentage points in 2025, with coordinated networks manipulating investor sentiment through both negative and promotional narratives.
Cyabra's analysis, in collaboration with Onclusive, uncovered coordinated inauthentic activity behind several of the World Cup 2026's most viral controversies, from ticket scams to false claims about competing teams.